1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the carpentry art and, more particularly, to the fabrication of wood joints.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional types of wood joints include butt, miter, rabbet, tongue and groove, mortise and tenon, and dado. Each type of joint has a particular use depending upon material, cost, and desired appearance. The butt, rabbet, and miter joints are inexpensive to fabricate and may be utilized with virtually any kind of wood material. However, they tend to be weak. The tongue and groove, mortise and tenon, and dado joints are more expensive and complicated to produce and require the use of solid woods. However, they are strong and stable and thus far superior to the butt, miter, and rabbet joints.
The increasing use of laminated materials has presented additional problems to carpenters because laminates tend to separate in the joints no matter what type of joint is used. The mortise and tenon, tongue and groove, and dado joints are virtually eliminated from use with laminated woods because of the tendency of the laminates to separate when the necessary angular cuts are made in the materials. The butt, miter, and rabbet joints have therefore become the standard types of joints where laminated materials are brought together. As noted above, these types of joints tend to be weak and are unsatisfactory where strong connections are required.
The increasing scarcity of solid woods has forced the use of laminated wood products. One of the major reasons for the increasing scarcity of solid woods is that higher utilization of a given log may be achieved by peeling the log into thin veneers and then forming the veneers together into stiff laminated boards instead of by cutting the log into solid wood planks. Thus, economic necessity has forced the utilization of increasing amounts of laminates and in turn created an increasing demand for a strong joint to connect two laminated pieces of wood together.
Another problem with conventional joints is that they tend to destroy the aesthetic harmony of the wood structure as a whole by their practical requirements. Only the miter joint disappears into the materials of the joint. The problem with the miter joint is that it is relatively weak and unstable. All of the other joints present unsightly lines in the finished product.